Gattuoch Kuon

May 16

1. From your experience transitioning to Canadian academic life and culture, do you have any advice for new WUSC students?

Be open minded and make friends as soon as possible. These people can help you transition to the life here.
Seek help from Teaching Assistants, Professors and use the resources available at school to the maximum (if possible ask your local committee if they can get you a tutors who can help you when you need it)
Keep in touch with your cohort and create a strong bond. You will need this sometime during your studies. Very important!
Do not get discouraged when you don`t understand a thing in class for the first few weeks. It took me 2 weeks to know what exactly was happening in my Calculus class (probably felt I wasn’t smart enough as I used to be in high school). After a while, I consulted my Teaching Assistant, sort help from other WUSC students who were already here, made friends in class, used resources available at school and put more effort, I got better and things got better.

2. How can new students cope with loneliness and feeling out of place when they first arrive in Canada?

Definitely, stay in touch with your cohort. I cannot stress this enough!
Look for people whom you have common interests with and build connections with them.

3. From your experience, what does it take to succeed in Canada?

[Very important] build your self-confidence. Understand that you are still as smart as you used to be back in high school. Once you boost your self-confidence, trust me you will gain yourself belief back and nothing but success will follow.
[Important] build meaningful connections. This can be friends, employers, recruiters and other WUSC students. You will realize that you will need your network/connections in the next few years down the line. So, meaningful connections will go a long way towards building your success in Canada.
Attend events, hackathons (for engineering and computer science students), network more especially build a relationship with employers/recruiters as soon as you are in your first year. It will help you get an internship very easily!

4. What challenges do you think hinder new students from succeeding in Canada?

[Very Important] Lack of self confidence
Insufficient motivation and proper guidance e.g no one newcomers can look upto.
Fear of reaching out and asking for help.
Not expanding their network and have meaningful connections. This can be in form of those that can help them succeed or connect with prospective employers/recruiters who can help them get internships.

5. Seeing how credit scores are important, do you have any advice on managing money or a credit profile?

[chuckle] I`m still bad at this but putting priorities will surely help manage your finances. Make informed decisions before inserting those cards numbers on a website 😊.

6. Do you have any ideas on how new students can manage expectations from friends and family back home?

Talk to your family, friends, and relatives. Be honest with them and let them understand that you are barely surviving.
I use a rule of thumb (One I created yself), if I have it, I access the problem at hand, is it a necessity? If yes go ahead and help, if not, it is important you save those two coins saved for a rainy day later😊.

7. Were your aspirations met? What would you do differently if you were to start over again in Canada?

No.
I would definitely, network with prospective employers by attending events, connecting on LinkedIn, JumpStart, joining meaningful groups and not being afraid to ask for help whenever I need it.
Work mostly on my self confidence
Use my time wisely and learn important stuff. E.g learn programming since technology is the way here. Most companies hire chemical engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, economic students, finance students who can code and work on side programming projects [You do not have to be super good. Basic knowledge is fine. Intermediate for overachievers. No offence😊]

Elizabeth Yom